Green Meetings
Sustainable choices range from your location to your social events and your local catering. If you are looking to stage an environmentally friendly meeting, look no further than the Energy City of Davos and Switzerland’s first climate-neutral conference centre.
At Davos Congress Centre, we understand the importance of sustainability. Below are just some of the measures we have introduced:
- A focus on local suppliers and seasonal produce in our catering
- Use of glasses rather than plastic cups
- Environmentally friendly waste disposal and recycling
- Grisons Congress Ticket
- Solar panels on the Congress Centre roof produce power that feeds into the public grid
- No air conditioning – we use outdoor air for cooling
Switzerland’s first climate-neutral congress centre
As a result of these and other measures, the climate protection organisation myclimate declared Davos Congress Centre a fully climate-neutral conference centre on 1 June 2020. This makes it Switzerland’s first climate-neutral conference centre. myclimate is a globally active climate protection organisation with roots in Switzerland. The organisation is a key advocate of CO2 compensation measures and sustainable development.
Offset your carbon footprint
Climate concerns are increasingly important to conference organisers, which is why, following our certification by myclimate, we are aiming to provide a CO2 calculator on our website, allowing organisers to calculate and offset the carbon footprint of their planned event. According to Reto Branschi, CEO/Director of Destination Davos Klosters, this is a hugely important move, as guests from around the world who attend conferences or holiday in Davos share the same climate concerns. “Genuine and determined commitment to protecting our climate is crucial to our sustainability as an Alpine conference and holiday destination,” explains Branschi.
Supporting a myclimate project
After working with myclimate to achieve certification, Davos Congress Centre decided to support a clean drinking water project in Uganda. The project funds access to various water filter technologies and is aimed particularly at families, schools and other institutions. The water filter systems that have been installed can save an average of over 130 tonnes of firewood and prevent 1,266 hectares of forest from being cleared – reducing CO₂ levels by around 50,000 tonnes a year as a result.
Energy City Davos
Outstanding transport infrastructure with international airports, a well-developed and punctual rail service and the growing use of buses all help make for a comfortable and environmentally friendly journey to Davos. Thanks to its central location in the heart of Davos, the Congress Centre is easy to reach on foot. Please also note the many environmental measures taken by Davos’s hospitality industry. In 2001, Davos became the first municipality in the Canton of Grisons to be awarded Energy City status by the Swiss Federal Office of Energy and the ‘Label Energiestadt’ organisation.
Environmentally conscious Switzerland
In Switzerland, we don’t dwell enough on our achievements in the field of sustainability. Two-thirds of Swiss energy is derived from renewable sources, in particular hydro. We are also number one when it comes to recycling, have an excellent waste management system, rigid exhaust emission regulations, a carefully regulated landscape management system and strict building controls. Columbia and Yale universities regularly evaluate countries in terms of environment, air pollution, water quality, biodiversity, use of natural resources and climate change. Switzerland was ranked number 1 in 2014.
